front heater working ? - replace or repair?

[Cruiserhead05]

In my fj40 my rear heater seems to get fairly warm in about 5-10 minutes which is fine, so i start it up 10 mintues before i leave for school. my frotn heater however only starts to get a little warm after say 30-45 minutes. is it worht my time to try to take it out, clean it, and put it back in or should i just buy one in good working order that is complete. also my heater is missing about al the levers and such so that gives me more reason to get a nice one. if i should replace does anybody have one. where can i get nice refurbished ones? thanks

 

[Degnol]

I've got a perfect one for an older cruiser. Tank has been boiled,box disassembled, blasted, primed, new vent gaskets and all levers are there. It is for a '74 or older. PM me if you are interested, I'm in Kansas City.
Ed Long

 

[Poser]

What year is your truck, is the line going to the heater, somehow not allowing coolant to get into the front heater? Are the hoses or lines that feed the front heater the same temp as the rears? Feel them after the truck warms up. Depending on the year, what shape is the rubber boot between the heater and blower duct? There are a few things to verify before purchasing a different piece.

 

[Eternal]

I have never heard anything good about the original front heaters. I cleaned mine and replaced and repaired everything and I was lucky to get the chill off by the time I reached work 30 minutes later.(after a 10minute warm up and block heater) I purchased an after market auxilary heater for the cab of a large tractor or loader/bulldozer. It was quite cheap-$150 CDN and produces 28,000 btu and has a 3 speed fan with dual squirrel cages. It is really small and fits under the dash super tight. I haven't tried it out yet as the cruiser is getting dismantled right now but I am sure I will have no problem getting it warm in there now.

eternal

 

[Cruiserhead05]

Well i used to have a 72 and the p.o. totally redid the front heater and it would heat up real nice. once it started getting cold, last month i started thinking about heat. i really just wanted to rig up a power inverter and a space heater but they need at least 1500 amps or watts, whatever. how does that tractor heater work, is it electric or does it use the old heater hoses and such...Well i dont want to do away with originality but do want something practical. does anyone make a small electric heater that can be wired to the battery with say a switch to run off of. its sounds easy enough....

 

[Landpimp]

the stock heater will/should put out plenty of heat, my fj45(running the original almost 40 year old heater) and both my 82 fj40's will roast you out of the cab, one of the 82's even has the rear heater removed, all get heat within minutes of running.

I would check the heater valve on the firewall to make sure its opening all the way when you pull the dash cable( a few shot of lube will free it up), but I don't think that the problem as I think the rear heater runs off the same valve.

If thats not it you can try to clean the heater core, there is some kinda acid you run thru the system, I forget what it is. ALso make sure there isn't some crap(like lint, hair or whatever) sitting on top of the heater core, if so thats gonna effect it.

If not that then I would simply replace the heater core, under $100 for a new unit(from Cruiser vendors or a place like Performance Radiator), will take an hour or so to replace, it's easy and I can almost promise you it will put out plenty of heat.....unless you live in the artic someplace. I don't see a point in buying a used complete heater unit as it might be in the same shape as yours

John H

 

[Landpimp]

any 12 volt electic heater is gonna be almost worthless, just can't put out anywhere near the same kinda heat a good stock heater can/does. Running a 110 volt off a inverter is gonna use ALOT of power and is not a good idea IMOP

John

 

[dinkleberry]

Pimp's right the electric heaters are junk.

Make sure all the duct work is tight, and core is clean. A proper functioning system should make you sweat even in winter (which is why they have a heater valve).

There is a Mojave heater that I thought worked like a regular heater core, but don't know how it would fit.

 

[Landpimp]

[quote author=Dinkleberry link=board=1;threadid=6411;start=msg51953#msg51953 date=1066401977]
Pimp's right the electric heaters are junk.

Make sure all the duct work is tight, and core is clean. A proper functioning system should make you sweat even in winter (which is why they have a heater valve).

There is a Mojave heater that I thought worked like a regular heater core, but don't know how it would fit.
[/quote]

yes the Mojave(Flexlite?) heater works off the cooling system just like the stock Cruiser unit, but I can't see a reason to use this, it's more for custom type installs, like a hot rod or something. My 45 wagon has an aftermarket heater(from 1964) and it hangs under the glove box, works well, even has defrost.

 

[CruisinGA]

My stock heater in my '74 will easily fog the windows in winter. And no I hadn't just had bean burritos for lunch.

 

[Kief]

Muratic acid... don't get this stuff in eyes, skin or on your cement. If your heater core is bad it will find the holes. You can dilute it if you want to take it slow.